The search is on for the oldest bottle of Charles Krug

How do you celebrate your 150th birthday? If you’re Charles Krug & the Peter Mondavi Family, you celebrate your entire history, one bottle at a time. Charles Krug will be celebrating their 150th anniversary on September 10th and they have one simple request. If you have one of their old bottles of wine (full or empty), they want to know about it. There are a few ways you can participate in the celebration

If you have an old bottle of Charles Krug, take a photo of the bottle and either email oldestbottle@charleskrug.com or go to Charles Krug’s Facebook page and post a picture on their wall. Charles Krug will contact potential contenders about the next steps in the process. Here are some additional details:

Readers are encouraged to scour their wine cabinets, cellars, closets and caves for Charles Krug wine bottles, empty or full, dating either from pre-Prohibition or the Peter Mondavi Family era which began with the 1944 vintage. Bottles deemed contenders will be authenticated by experts in the wine department of Sotheby’s auction house in New York. The Peter Mondavi Family may purchase the winning bottle for display at the winery.

Plans are for an exhibit of historic artifacts from Charles Krug Winery, which will include a towering 9,000-gallon vintage redwood fermentation tank and Charles Krug’s original basket press, which he used to crush the first harvest at his fledgling winery. The estate’s Redwood Cellar will house the exhibit. The huge structure with its many-gabled roof and impressive belvedere was built by Charles Krug in 1873 after his original cellar burned to the ground. On the National Register of Historic Places and a California Historic Landmark, the Redwood Cellar was restored recently to hold the Peter Mondavi Family’s reserve barrel aging room. The Cellar will eventually house the winery’s new tasting room and visitor’s center.

Charles Krug-Peter Mondavi Family Winery welcomes wine, food and music lovers to our Annual Tastings on the Lawn. Stroll among the towering oak trees on our lush grounds at Napa Valley’s first winery while you taste our current releases of ultra-premium wines, including Family Reserves and Limited Releases. Members of the Peter Mondavi Sr. family will greet guests, sign bottles and answer questions about the wines and the renewal of the historic Charles Krug estate.

Whether you favor the fresh, crisp taste of a Sauvignon Blanc or the fruity mouthfeel that rewards your palate with our Family Reserve Generations, you’re sure to find a wine that you’ll love. With each of our fifteen current releases, incredible food pairings selected by our Hospitality Director, Patty Grantham, will surely please your palate.

If that isn’t enough, throw off your shoes and squish your toes in the soft grass while you dance to the beat of classic rock. Meander through the Carriage House and reward yourself with barrel tastings of our upcoming Family Reserve releases.

The event also welcomes back for his seventh year at TOL famed Santa Rosa caricaturist, Doug Shannon. This free activity lets Doug capture unique and colorful features of TOL guests to take home, frame and enjoy.

Cesare and Rosa Mondavi originated the Tastings on the Lawn in 1951 as a means to educate consumers about wine. Fifty-nine years later, Peter Mondavi Sr., the family patriarch, continues the tradition on the Great Lawn of the Charles Krug estate. Lawn chairs, picnic blankets, straw hats and comfy shoes are encouraged!

Final Thoughts

This historical event is a must for wine enthusiasts of all levels. Stems and Legs is currently making plans to try to attend this event and do some tastings in the area. We will be sure to let you all know if we attend and will follow up on this post with all the highlights. Until then…